The London Games will have a “special place in the history of the Olympics”, a powerful International Olympic Committee (IOC) official said on Thursday. Denis Oswald, chairman of the IOC’s Coordination Commission, said three days before the closing ceremony that officials and spectators had been delighted by their experience in London, but that the competitors were happiest of all. “The Games have been made for the athletes. I have spoken to many athletes as well, the village is excellent… but our athletes are very happy about the Games as well,” Oswald told a press conference. “Therefore I am sure these Games will remain with a special place in the history of the Olympics.” Oswald praised the organisers for putting the spectators at the heart of the Games — and said the British spectators had responded by cheering on all of the competitors, not just the home athletes. “They like sport, they love sport, and this reminded me of the spirit we had in the Lillehammer (Winter) Games when the Norwegian people were enthusiastic for sport – for their own team but also for the other athletes as well when they were competing well.” London is the first city to host an Olympic Games three times. It previously staged the Games in 1909 and 1948.
London Games beat Beijing ticket record
Organisers have sold a record 2.1 million tickets for the London 2012 Paralympics, beating the previous mark set at the 2008 edition in Beijing, officials said Thursday. The popularity of the London Olympics has seen demand suddenly soar for the Paralympics, with more than 600,000 tickets bought in the last month for the event which runs from August 29 to September 9. “To have sold the most ever tickets for a Paralympic Games three weeks before the Opening Ceremony is absolutely fantastic and shows the insatiable appetite the public has for top class elite sport,” Philip Craven, president of the International Paralympic Committee, said in a statement.
Closing ceremony ‘camp and cheesy’: music director
The London Olympics closing ceremony on Sunday will be a “beautiful, cheeky, cheesy, camp, silly and thrilling” journey through British pop history, its musical director promised. David Arnold, composer of five James Bond scores, told the Daily Telegraph that predictions Paul McCartney and Adele would perform were “scarily accurate”, but would not confirm growing rumours that reclusive singer Kate Bush would appear. “We’re trying to have moments where someone from (rural west England region) the Cotswolds watching it on TV and someone from a tower block overlooking the East End (of London) will be able to find something in it of which they can say, ‘that’s us, really, that’s Britain’,” he said in an interview published in Thursday’s paper. The Who singer Roger Daltrey recently revealed the band had recorded a song which would prove to be a “fabulous ending for the Olympics”. 1980s pop icon George Michael wrote on Twitter earlier this week he was “Spending most of the next week rehearsing like crazy for the Olympic closing ceremony.
